Last week I admitted that as a kid, I didn’t understand why brides wore white dresses instead of their favorite color. My younger self vowed to wear a wedding dress of rainbows one day.
At 16, I competed in my local Junior Miss pageant, wearing a beautiful pink gown. I decided then to wear my dress again on my wedding day.
At 19, I made my formal debut into Greenwood society at the annual Danse de Noel. I absolutely loved my white debutante dress, and I assumed I would wear it again as a wedding dress.
One of the most obvious ways feminism benefits me in my day-to-day life is the freedom I (usually) feel when facing societal expectations about female beauty standards. This freedom allows me to choose or to reject feminine characteristics according to my own comfort and desires. I also feel free to change my mind. After all, I can stay true to who I am in many different ways.
While I didn’t get married in a dress of rainbows, a pink pageant dress, or my debutante gown, my wedding dress reflects who I am. All the decisions Dan and I made about our wedding reflect who we are, both as individuals and as a couple.
How I Found My Wedding Dress
I did opt for a white wedding dress, a fairly modern tradition in the grand scheme of things. For our morning wedding, however, I thought a long formal dress would feel out-of-place. Thus I knew I wanted a short white dress.
Dan and I had a short engagement of about five months. We were living in Ohio and planning a wedding in San Antonio, a wedding reception in Greenwood, and two wedding receptions in Findlay. The short engagement and the long-distance planning definitely affected how I went wedding dress shopping.
The practical woman that I am, I looked online for my wedding dress. My mom and I sent each other links back and forth of short dresses we liked, but none of them felt right.
Until I had an epiphany.
In the third season of Glee, the girls wear black and gold dresses with red petticoats for a competition.
I have always loved that black dress. I found it online at Unique Vintage and bookmarked it, just in case I ever had a special occasion that warranted buying a new LBD. (I have a closet full of LBDs). The same style showed up on Glee several more times, just in different colors.
While my wedding is definitely special enough to buy a new LBD, I was searching for a little white wedding dress. If the dress came in black, and in purple, and in red, could it be available in white?
I lucked out! Unique Vintage did carry my perfect satin dress in white. I also ordered a hot pink petticoat to wear under my wedding dress. The combined cost of my dress and petticoat was less than $200.
From White Dress to Wedding Dress
Most wedding dresses need alterations. Mine was no exception. Luckily the changes were fairly simple. As a petite woman, I just needed my dress and petticoat hemmed, plus the straps shortened. My mom has always been a talented seamstress. She volunteered to alter my dress.
I wanted more pink on my dress than just the petticoat. My mom and I discussed my options. She thought a pink sash around my waist would be too much. We agreed on pink lace at the bodice.
My mom struggled to find pink lace of the right width and color. In fact, when we showed up in San Antonio, the bodice of my wedding dress was still unadorned. My mom suggested white lace and showed me three options, but I adamantly wanted pink lace. She drove to several stores in San Antonio and found the perfect pink lace. She hand-sewed it onto my bodice the night before my wedding.
With pink wedges, a pink petticoat, and pink lace, my short wedding dress was perfect!
Thus ends the story of my wedding dress… But the comment section below is the beginning of YOUR stories! What’s your dream wedding dress? Would you ever buy your dress online? Any other wedding dress thoughts to share?
I love your dress, personally. I don’t know if you’ve ever browsed the website “Rock ‘n Roll Bride” but it fits right in! x
Thank you! I have not, but I’ve seen some “rockabilly” bridal outfits before, so I think I know what you mean.
The dresses they photograph aren’t strictly rockabilly, but a lot of them have their own quirky twists 😉
I love this dress for you! It just seems perfect. And it’s so cute! I had an evening wedding and I certainly wanted a long gown but I didn’t want too long of a train or anything. In fact, I thought I wanted a halter with very minimal details. I had even picked out a few online. Boy was I wrong. The dress I went with was a strapless with quite a bit of bling. When I tried it on, I just knew it was the one. And I got it at a discount-ish store so even though it seemed pretty expensive, it didn’t break the bank. It wasn’t some name brand or anything. Anyway, I’m glad I didn’t buy online in the end. I’m glad I tried a few on first because I completely changed my mind!
I had a similar experience shopping for my debutante dress. This was before Pinterest, so my best friend and I looked at bridal magazines together. I had chosen a bunch of dresses with cap sleeves and off-the-shoulder sleeves. I definitely did not want a strapless dress…
Until I tried on my debutante dress. Strapless with a sweetheart neckline, unlike anything I thought I wanted, but absolutely perfect. It was only the second dress I tried on, but I knew it was it. My best friend convinced me to try on other dresses, but we both kept going back to the second dress. I called my mom, she joined us, she made me try on my top three, and she agreed with me. Funnily, my second and third choices were both more expensive than my first, which was 25% off!
OMG. How FREAKIN’ Adorable!!!! I love it! You look perfect and happy. I just recently started following your blog, but from what I’ve gathered from your posts, it looks like it feels exactly like you. I remembered when I was picking out my wedding dress (which was tea length) and everyone that was with me wanted me to get a long one (my second choice) but it just didn’t FEEL right, so I opted for the short one, because it felt like me. It just felt right. This dress looks like it just felt right to you. That’s so awesome. Congrats on your wedding as well! Looks like it was a blast! 🙂
Aww, thank you! Everyone agrees it’s the perfect dress for me. 🙂
I’m glad to hear you went with a short dress too! It’s important to pick a dress that’s right for YOU–modern, traditional, long, short, whatever.
Your Mom is amazing sewing on your wedding lace the night before!! My Mom only sat and compared me the entire time to my sister, which is why I didn’t take her shopping just to show her. I love how your dress reflects your personality!! I should really restart my wedding series!
She is definitely the best! The pink lace was really important to me, part of my vision from the very beginning. I was actually a little annoyed that my mom hadn’t told me earlier she couldn’t find the right lace at home because I could have easily ordered it online. Luckily she found some in San Antonio so I could have my perfect wedding dress!
I’m sorry to hear your mom was less-than-supportive during your wedding planning process. That’s not okay.
Wow, what an awesome dress!!! Your mom also seems like one fantastic lady 🙂 I love the petticoats and those shoes. Thanks for linking up with me and Macy for Wedding Wednesday today!
Thanks, I like it too. 😉 My mom is definitely pretty fantastic. Thanks for hosting every week!
Love this, and I love how “you” it is! 🙂 Also, hello from another Junior Miss alum! I was South San Diego’s JM and winner of the Fitness Award at California’s JM. 😉
Thank you! I wanted to be as “me” as possible on my wedding day, even if that meant changing things up a bit.
You made it so far! I won Interview and Overall Scholastic in my local competition, but that was it. It was still tons of fun!
You already know all about my dress 🙂 but I just wanted to say that I recently found a vintage crinoline in a thrift store, and it reminded me of your dress! It’s not hot pink, but mauve. I think I might wear it as a dress to a wedding later this year.
I do! I love the story behind your dress (and the other dresses…). If you do wear your mauve petticoat, I’d love to see a picture of it. 🙂 I have a black and white polka dot dress that looks good with my petticoat, but I have yet to have the right occasion to wear the whole ensemble.
Loved reading the backstory. I’m a little fond of dresses…You definitely put a lot of thought and effort into choosing a wedding dress perfect for you! I absolutely love the look of petticoats, though I’ve never splurged on one. On my 19th birthday, I went out shopping for my wedding dress with my mom and sisters–they didn’t come to our wedding, but I’m glad I got to do something with them! I first found ‘my dress’ in knee-length, but I love long dresses and hardly ever have a chance to wear a long formal dress, so I was really happy that they had to have a long option. I ended up getting it altered 3 times…and it was still too big…and it’s still too big to this day, but I love it nonetheless, and wear it for every anniversary. We’ll be taking our 5th anniversary photos soon!
My petticoat was a really good price, but yeah, it’s a splurge if you don’t have a special occasion that requires it. Keep an eye on Unique Vintage; they often have good sales!
I love that you wear it again on your anniversary. I thought about that, but we spent our anniversary weekend in the mountains, which didn’t seem appropriate for my dress. Our anniversary itself included wine tasting, not something I want to do in my wedding dress either. But I talked to Dan about us retaking our engagement photos in our wedding clothes, which I’m pretty excited to do!
I like the direction weddings are taking. Tradition is still there, but it’s less of a formula to follow. Personality is taking over. Well done, and yay for frugal finds!
I know! Tradition is great if that’s what you want, but I feel like couples should do whatever works best for them.
I love the bodice of your dress! It’s so pretty!
I wore a princess dress. Which is hilarious because that’s not at all what I was looking for when I went shopping for wedding dresses. I thought I’d wear something long and lean and elegant. But nope. I tried on this one giant dress and I just knew. I think for me it was because I realized I would never again have a reason to wear a giant dress like that again. I could wear something elegant another time. But this would be my one time to wear something princessy. I was wary of online shopping (because I was worried about fit), but I found my dress on an awesome sale for just under $300.
Oh, and I was wrong… I totally ended up wearing my dress again. For our one year anniversary my husband and I wore our wedding clothes again for a photo shoot and it was awesome. And then I’ve pulled it out a couple of times for different girls to try on (I mentor teenagers). And then two Halloweens ago we pulled out our wedding clothes again and went as a “bride & groom”. We were by far the most popular costume that year. 😉 It’s super impractical as far as “something you might wear again” and yet somehow I still have. And I love it. 🙂
Also, I’m glad I came across your blog! 🙂
Your dress fit you like a glove! It’s beautiful and perfect. So glad you found the dress of your dreams, and I love that your mom made those special adjustments for you. She’s talented!
I love how you added pink touches to your dress! Haha, I actually loved those Glee dresses too, never thought to look for them on Unique Vintage! Might have to buy that black one if it’s still available. . .
I always thought it was weird that whenever non-traditional wedding dresses were shown, they were in pastels or nudes. A lot of people have told me they expected me to wear black (which actually never crossed my mind, since I wear black every day and wanted something different), but if I could have chosen anything, it probably would have been crimson. Just didn’t see a good match at the store (I’m super, super picky about red since I love it) so ivory it is!
Also, I’m pretty curious about what it was like being a debutante so maybe future post idea?
gorgeous dress! Looks like such a wonderful day – congrats to you both!
Your dress was beautiful! I love that style and the splash of color, it works so so well. Mine was from David’s Bridal. I got engaged working in Disney World during December and I moved back home to NJ in January. The first week I was home I was dress shopping for my May wedding since we only had about four months. I wanted a fit and flare sort of gown with straps, maybe vintagey looking or lacy. They all looked AWFUL on me since I am curvy. I kept saying I didn’t want strapless or ballgown but my consultant convinced me to try on one. As soon as she put it on me I knew it was it. It was exactly the opposite of what I thought I wanted and it was perfect!